Marco Bulacia and Claudio Bustos overcame a difficult eighth competitive section of the 2017 Dakar Rally between Uyuni in Bolivia and Salta in Argentina to enter the top 20 in their South Racing Ford Ranger.
 
Adverse weather conditions on the Altiplano and in other areas of Bolivia again forced rally officials to modify the route for stage eight – the second half of the Marathon stage. Rising water levels in a river bed due to be crossed by competitors forced officials to stop the first section of the stage at PC1, after 171km.
 
Crews then headed to the second half via a neutralisation section of 176km that also included the crossing of the frontier between Bolivia and Argentina at Piscuno. The second part of the competitive section started on the Argentinean side of the border, was unchanged and ran for around 248km and preceded a liaison of around 350km to the overnight halt in the city of Salta. The first section reached heights of in excess of 4,300 metres before the border and dropped to between 3,400 metres near the stage finish.
 
Bulacia revelled in the last competitive section of this year’s Dakar in his native Bolivia and reached the end of the first part in 19th position. That was sufficient for the Ford Ranger driver to move up to 21st overall. He reached the finish in a time of 4hr 50min 39sec and that was the 19th quickest time of the day to move him into 20th overall at the expense of the Argentinean driver Alejandro Yacopini in the standings.
 
Bulacia’s latest generation South Racing Ford Ranger was prepared by Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) with collaboration from South Racing. Bulacia has additional backing from YPFB, Vialco, Hard Rock Santa Cruz, BOA and Ende for his second Dakar with South Racing.

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and Overdrive Racing reached the traditional rest day at the halfway point of the 2017 Dakar Rally in La Paz with six of their eight Toyota Hiluxes still very much in the hunt for a finish in Buenos Aires on January 14.
 
The first half of the event through Paraguay, northern Argentina and southern Bolivia had been one of the most unpredictable on record and had accounted for Toyota’s early race leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Ronan Chabot.
 
But Overdrive Racing’s Joan Roma was well placed in fourth overall to challenge for the outright victory over the remaining six stages before the finish festivities in the Argentine capital. With 22 Dakars behind him, Roma has the experience necessary to assess the current situation and plan his strategy to challenge for the win. The 2014 winner is receiving valuable support from Monster Energy, Power Electronics and Air Europa for his Dakar challenge.
 
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Giniel de Villiers had endured a fraught few days by his exacting standards and the South African reached the rest halt in La Paz in eighth position and needing to pull out all the stops over the remaining specials if he is to continue his remarkable run of podium finishes.
 
Former WRC star Conrad Rautenbach has been particularly impressive on his Dakar debut in a South African-built Toyota Hilux with co-driver Robert Howie. Despite intense heat and choking dust in Argentina and torrential rain, mud and appalling stage conditions at altitude in Bolivia, the Zimbabwean has carded a sixth quickest time and reached La Paz in 15th position.
 
The Dutch crew of Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar lost time during the middle of the first week after holding a top 10 place at the start of the rally. They continue to climb back up the leader board in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux and will start the second half of the rally from 19th overall.
 
Overdrive Racing’s Yacopini and Merlo close in on top 20 at halfway point
 
Alejandro Yacopini and Daniel Merlo have been on a cautious and consistent pace from the start in their Overdrive Toyota. The Argentineans have stayed out of major trouble , as many of their rivals have fallen by the wayside and are well-placed in 21st overall to challenge hard for a place well inside the top 20 when the rally returns to their native Argentina on Tuesday.
 
He Zhitao and Kai Zhao have missed several waypoints on the route into Bolivia thanks to GPS issues and incurred time penalties as a result. But the Chinese crew have enjoyed their experience nonetheless and, suitably refreshed by a day’s rest in La Paz, are eager to push on through the second half of the event next week. They hold 50th overall.
 
The Toyota team’s biggest disappointment came with the retirement of Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel in the leading Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota after the third stage in Argentina. The two-time Dakar winner had dominated the 2016 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies with Overdrive Racing and taken that form into the Dakar.
 
The Qatari won the opening stage in Paraguay to snatch the outright lead and then ceded that advantage to Frenchman Sébastien Loeb on day two, only to regain the virtual outright lead on the next stage before smashing hard into a large hole and badly damaging his Toyota beyond repair.
 
The French duo of Ronan Chabot and Gilles Pillot had been just outside the top 10 in their Overdrive Racing Toyota until they stopped with engine issues just short of the crossing from Argentina into Bolivia. They were forced to join Al-Attiyah on the ever-growing list of retirements.
 
Additional support for Overdrive Racing comes from Power Electronics and Kappa clothing.
 
TOMORROW
 
The resumption of action on Monday (tomorrow) takes teams to the town of Uyuni on the first half of a Marathon stage and a competitive section of 322km in a route of 622km. Parts of the route have been used on the Dakar since 2014 and feature long sections of sandy tracks at altitude and many or the perils associated with stages in Bolivia.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
JEAN-MARC FORTIN, CEO of Overdrive Racing
“Well, the first week is over and we can look back on the highs and lows of that week. We had the painful days when we lost Nasser (Al-Attiyah) and Ronan (Chabot). That hurt, but we need to carry on. We are still very much in the game with Nani (Roma). He is doing a very good race and Alex (Haro) is doing a great job with the navigation. Our hopes rest with this crew. Giniel (De Villiers) lost 26 minutes with navigation issues on stage five. We need to get him back ahead of, al least, (Orlando) Terranova and (Jakub) Przygonski and then into a fight with (Mikko) Hirvonen. With that we can hope for a top five.
 
“Erik (Van Loon) is back in contention. He also had a navigation problem on stage five. His speed is there. He has shown that he can be in the top 10 every day without problems. We hope to bring him home in the top 10. (Alejandro) Yacopini is doing a very good race. This is his first time in T1 category. He was in T2 all the time before. Day-by-day nothing major and he carries on. I am very pleased to have him in the team. He Zhitao had a very hard stage four. He also had a few problems with the GPS and was missing waypoints. We are checking with the race stewards because some of his penalties are not right. There are too many. He is still in the race and we need to bring him to the finish.
 
“We had a hard first week, with very high temperatures at the start – over 40 (°C). Now the rain is there for two days and it has been tough working in the mud and the cold. But we can expect the high temperatures again on the way to the finish in Argentina. Nobody has suffered from the altitude. We were well prepared with medicine and I am pleased that the whole team was fit and able to cope with the conditions and the heights of over 4,000 metres.”
 
JOAN ROMA – Car 305
“It has been an interesting week and a very long and hard week where we have tried not to make too many mistakes. For now we are doing very well. We are really happy with how the first week has gone. It’s been a tough edition and we have seen some of the favourites had to return home already. We still have many complicated days to come. In the third stage we ran out of fuel and lost about eight minutes. Without that we would be leading the Dakar. It was a human error. We have been consistent every day and have not made mistakes.
 
“The Dakar is a race marathon where many things can happen. The important thing is to arrive every day and with the minimum of problems. We all have our problems, but it’s important to have as few as possible. We will keep the pressure on the Peugeots from the next stage and all next week. At altitude, their cars are very fast and go well, as we have seen in Bolivia. But we are now going to Argentina, where the altitude will be lower and we will be more competitive.”
 
2017 Dakar Rally – overall standings at rest day:
 
1. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) Peugeot 3008 DKR                14hr 02min 58sec
2. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (MCO) Peugeot 3008 DKR                                14hr 04min 07sec
3. Cyril Despres (FRA)/David Castera (FRA) Peugeot 3008 DKR                                   14hr 07min 52sec
4. Joan Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                            14hr 08min 33sec
5. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)/Michel Périn (FRA) John Cooper Works Rally Mini                     14hr 45min 19sec
6. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) John Cooper Works Rally Mini                  15hr 02min 53sec
7. Orlando Terranova (ARG)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) John Cooper Works Rally Mini          15hr 07min 47sec
8. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Gazoo Hilux   15hr 11min 09sec
15. Conrad Rautenbach (ZWE)/Robert Howie (ZAF) Toyota Gazoo Hilux           17hr 26min 49sec
19. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Toyota Hilux Overdrive         18hr 23min 17sec
21. Alejandro Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Merlo (ARG) Toyota Hliux Overdrive          19hr 09min 02sec
50. He Zhitao (CHN)/Kai Zhao (CHN) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                             41hr 02min 02sec

PEUGEOT 3008DKR crews PETERHANSEL / COTTRET and LOEB / ELENA overcame further difficult conditions on Stage 7 this Monday, to secure the fastest and second-fastest times on the first section of the 2017 Dakar Rally’s marathon stage; they keep their positions as leaders in the provisional overall rankings.    
Week 2 of the 2017 Dakar Rally kicked off with a huge challenge in the form of the first part of the event’s only marathon stage, with no overnight servicing permitted during tonight’s bivouac in Uyuni. In total, crews face the prospect of covering 1, 693km on Legs 7 and 8 combined without the possibility of any outside servicing. As a result of the poor weather that has swept across the La Paz region in Bolivia recently, Leg 7’s competitive section was shortened from the originally planned 332 kilometres to 161km.

PETERHANSEL / COTTRET collected their second stage victory of this year’s Dakar, 48 seconds clear of LOEB / ELENA who ran first on the road on Monday. DESPRES / CASTERA fell back to fourth overall behind Nani Roma after conceding some nine minutes to the day’s victors.
Reliability is always the name of the game on the Dakar’s marathon stages and the three PEUGEOT 3008DKRs completed today’s distance without suffering any major technical problems. The drives and co-drivers will make a standard quick check-up, following a process they already experienced during training sessions.

TYPE OF TERRAIN: sandy tracks and complex navigation.CONDITIONS: damp, with hard-packed sand.WEATHER: 5°C, and hailstones encountered on the second road section.

“QUOTE, UNQUOTE…”

Stéphane PETERHANSEL (PEUGEOT 3008DKR #300)Leg 7: 1st / Overall: 1st“It wasn’t easy but it was a nice stage, with lots of navigation. There was some soft sand in places, but no really big dunes. Because of the high altitudes, we were down on power but we had the advantage of being able to follow the tracks made by Sébastien and Nani. On top of that we didn’t make any mistakes. This is our second stage win and what’s in the bank is in the bank. We’ll see how it all pans out later. Tomorrow [Tuesday], we will be first on the road which won’t necessarily play in our favour. Before then, we’ve got a check list to work through to make sure that everything is okay with the car in the absence of the mechanics. One of our jobs is to swap the front and rear wheels.”

Sébastien LOEB (PEUGEOT 3008DKR #309)Leg 7: 2nd / Overall: 2nd“The navigation through the dunes was difficult to begin with and some of the waypoints were hard to find but we did a decent job. We never got lost and, whenever we did, we soon found our way back on to it quickly. It turned out to be a good day for us. I don’t know how the others fared but nobody overtook us, so that’s a positive. It was the sort of stage where Stéphane tends to go well, so we can’t complain.”
Cyril DESPRES (PEUGEOT 3008DKR #307)Leg 7: 7th / Overall: 4th“We dropped a little time despite not having any major issues, with the exception perhaps of an error when we strayed off route during an off-road portion. We had to drive 11km through tall grass. Seb and Stéphane both went very well today. We lost a bit of the rear bodywork while driving through some thick camel grass. Okay, it wasn’t a great day, but I have no intention of letting that get me down.”
CLASSIFICATION – LEG 7:
1. PETERHANSEL Stéphane (FR) / COTTRET J-P. (FR), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, 1h54m8s
2. LOEB Sébastien (FR) / ELENA Daniel (MON), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +48s
3. DE VILLIERS Giniel (ZAF) / VON ZITZEWITZ Dirk (ZAF), Toyota Hi-Lux, +3m33s
4. HIRVONEN Mikko (FIN) / PERIN Michel (FR), MINI, +5m3s
5. ROMA Nani (SP) / HARO BRAVO Alex (SP), TOYOTA, +5m32s
7. DESPRES Cyril (FR) / David CASTERA (FR), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +9m7s

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER LEG 7:
1. PETERHANSEL Stéphane (FR) / COTTRET J-P. (FR), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, 15h57m6s
2. LOEB Sébastien (FRA) / ELENA Daniel (MON), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +1m57s
3. ROMA Nani (ESP) / HARO BRACO Alex (ESP), Toyota Hi-Lux, +11m7s
4. DESPRES Cyril (FR) / David CASTERA (FR), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +14m1s
5. HIRVONEN Mikko (FIN) / PERIN Michel (FR), MINI, +47m24s

The heavy rain that affected Stage 5 of the 2017 Dakar Rally didn’t prevent Loeb/Elena from posting today’s fastest time. This evening’s leaderboard is topped by three PEUGEOT 3008DKRs, with Peterhansel/Cottret at the top of the pile in first place.

Poor weather led the organisers to chop 155km off today’s 447km competitive section which provided the drivers and navigators alike with more hard work. Most of the crews reported getting lost at some point.

Running fifth in order, Loeb/Elena collected today’s best time after visiting all the waypoints in front. The Franco/Monegasque crew is the first to claim two stage victories on this year’s event and their performance has seen them leapfrog from fourth to second place.

Peterhansel/Cottret were third fastest and are now in front, 1m9s clear of their team-mates, while navigational difficulties cost the overnight leaders Despres/Castera around 10 minutes.

TYPE OF TERRAIN: high altitudes and WRC-style tracks to begin with.

CONDITIONS: Rain early on, then drier. 

WEATHER: Early rain, with temperatures ranging from 5°C to 21°C.

AVERAGE SPEED: 87kph

TOP SPEED: 183.4kph

CLASSIFICATION – LEG 5:

1. LOEB Sébastien (FRA) / ELENA Daniel (MON), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, 2h24m3s

2. ROMA Nani (ESP) / HARO Bravo (ESP), Toyota Hi-Lux, +44s

3. PETERHANSEL Stéphane (FRA) / COTTRET J-P. (FRA), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +1m31s

4. DESPRES Cyril (FRA) / David CASTERA (FRA), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +10m33s

5. DUMAS Romain (FRA) / GUEHENNEC Alain (FRA), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +11m55s

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER LEG 5

1. PETERHANSEL Stéphane (FRA) / COTTRET J-P. (FRA), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, 14h2m58s

2. LOEB Sébastien (FRA) / ELENA Daniel (MON), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +1m9s

3. DESPRES Cyril (FR) / David CASTERA (FRA), PEUGEOT 3008DKR, +4m54s

4. ROMA Nani (ESP) / HARO Bravo (ESP), Toyota Hi-Lux, +5m35s

5. HIRVONEN Mikko (FIN) / PERIN Michel (FRA), Mini, +42m21s